Quick recap

The Roanoke 40 plan was briefly discussed, but nothing formal was accepted at yesterday's City Council Finance meeting. The papers on the agenda (ORD2016-137 and -140), which would allocate a portion of meals and real estate taxes to schools, were continued.

Don't worry though, this is only the start. The Roanoke 40 has been receiving a lot of support and steps are being taken to further this discussion on City Council and with school and city administration. The Chamber's City Council candidate forum raised The Roanoke 40 as a question to all candidates, and I've heard it received overwhelming support!

Next steps

We could use your voice at public comment this Monday night! Sign up with the City Clerk beforehand (call 646-7955) and you'll get 3-minutes to speak at the beginning of the meeting. The time commitment here is only 30-minutes from 6:00pm to 6:30pm. Come on' folks, that EASILY puts you home in time for Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

On Monday night we're asking Council to continue discussion on The Roanoke 40 and bring it to a public hearing in October. This could be accomplished with the following timeline:

9/26 to 10/12 Staff analysis (with help from RF to provide quicker turnaround)

10/12 to 10/19 Joint meeting between School Board and City Council

10/20 Finance committee

10/24 City Council public hearing (special meeting to discuss school funding)

If you can't make it Monday night, please contact City Council (RF homepage) and request that we bring The Roanoke 40 to a public hearing before the election.

The main point

We're not saying The Roanoke 40 is perfect, but we do think it warrants a real discussion to our real problem. With next year's budget starting in early November, we need to act now.